University President Criticizes Elimination of Standardized Testing in Higher Education

The American higher education system is facing a crisis, with a prominent university president arguing that the progressive pursuit of equity has led to the collapse of merit-based admissions. Dr. Kent Ingle, President of Southeastern University, contends that the decision by institutions like the University of California system to eliminate standardized testing has backfired, rewarding mediocrity and disadvantaging hard-working students.

In an opinion piece, Ingle stated that the "war on merit" has undermined the core promise of American education – that hard work and excellence can lead to opportunity, regardless of background. He criticized the move to drop SAT and ACT requirements, which was framed as a way to increase equity, asserting that it actually worsened inequality by forcing admissions offices to rely on subjective metrics.

According to Ingle, these subjective metrics, such as inflated GPAs, heavily coached essays, and expensive extracurricular activities, favor students from wealthier backgrounds who can afford private tutors and specialized coaching. He argued that standardized tests once served as an equalizer, allowing capable students from less privileged backgrounds to demonstrate their academic ability on an objective scale. By removing this metric, he believes, elite institutions have inadvertently reduced the ability of working-class students to prove their worth.

The fallout from eliminating standardized testing has become undeniable, with even publications like The New York Times reportedly acknowledging it as a mistake. Ingle pointed to institutions such as MIT, Dartmouth, and Yale as examples of universities that have reinstated test requirements, having realized the shortcomings of the "equity" argument.

Ingle stressed that this issue extends beyond college admissions, impacting the broader promise of American society. He called for a rejection of what he termed the "equity hustle" and a restoration of excellence and objectivity in the application process to ensure genuine intellectual effort is valued over what he described as artificial, progressive shortcuts.